Nigel Adkins

After picking up brief managerial experience with Bangor City as a player-manager, Adkins rose to fame on the banks of the Humber after stepping up from his role as the Scunthorpe United physio to replace Brian Laws as the manager at Glanford Park.

Adkins went on to win two promotions to the Championship with the Iron in 2007 and 2009 before moving to Southampton in 2010. He guided the Saints to back-to-back promotions and into the Premier League, he was eventually replaced by Mauricio Pochettino at St Mary’s.

Spells at Reading and Sheffield United can only be described as unsuccessful and he has been out of work since losing his job with the Blades 18 months ago.

Gary Megson

After suffering relegation during his first experience of management with Norwich in 1996, Megson went on manage Blackpool, Stockport and Stoke before he achieved his first real success, earning West Brom top-flight football for the first time 14 years.

After repeating the feat two seasons later, Megson left The Hawthorns after a contract issue. An unsuccessful spell at Forest and a brief stint at Leicester City followed before he joined Bolton in 2007 in what was arguably his most successful stint as a manager, earning Bolton a 13th place finish in the Premier League.

In February 2012 he was sacked from his role at Sheffield Wednesday after just a year and he recently took charge of West Brom once more, in a caretaker capacity this time, after the sacking of Tony Pulis. He left the club after the appointment of Alan Pardew.

Gary Megson and Tony Pulis while with West Brom (Image: Getty)

Tony Pulis

A surprise name to be linked with the role given his reputation as a Premier League manager. After serving his time as a manager at several lower league clubs, it was his second stint at the Potters when he came to national prominence

Earning Stoke promotion to the top flight in his second season back, Pulis went on to establish them as a Premier League club and even earned Stoke European football after reaching the FA Cup final.

Pulis joined Crystal Palace in 2013 only to be named the Premier League Manager of the Year in his first season after leading the Eagles to 11th. He left the club just two months later after not being backed in the transfer market.

The Welshman then spent the best part of three years in the dugout at The Hawthorns with West Brom, but he was sacked in November after a series of poor results left the Baggies hovering above the Premier League relegation zone.

Simon Grayson

Fresh from taking Sunderland to the foot of the Championship table, the newly sacked Grayson has been touted as one of the favourites for the job at the KCOM Stadium.

Grayson’s first job came with Blackpool, where he won promotion to the Championship before moving on to Leeds United in 2008 and once again secured promotion to the second tier, but transforming Leeds into a mid-table Championship team wasn’t enough and he was subsequently sacked.

Spells at Huddersfield Town and Preston North End followed before landing the job at Sunderland in the summer, but one league win ensured he was sacked three months into his reign at the Stadium of Light.

Paul Lambert

The Scot, who won the Champions League as a player with Borussia Dortmund, had excelled in roles at Wycombe and Colchester. He took Norwich City from League One to the Premier League in just two seasons.

Lambert then moved onto Aston Villa in June 2012, where he took Villa to a League Cup semi-final and kept the club in the Premier League for two successive seasons before his luck turned.

A stint at Blackburn followed, where he kept the Lancashire side in the Championship, before he was appointed as head coach of Wolves, a job he lost in summer.